There was considerable e-mail following her departure, much of it debating the proposal that the great apes belong to the same genus (Homo) as us, and their concomitant designation as “people.” Though many correspondents disagreed, a surprising number took the view that the apes should, at a minimum, enjoy freedom from pain, invasive experimentation and incarceration, i.e., much like mentally disabled humans. Some farsighted responders suggested further that if apes should be allowed such rights, why not all the other animals?
Knotty issues to be sure. But perhaps no more so than the question of whether all of us (including the non-human animals) have alter egos living on other planets in the galaxy, or even in other galaxies. K-PAX alone harbors countless beings who might well be our mental counterparts, just as the great apes are our physical cousins.
On the other hand, there was the inevitable pack of letters from those who can’t accept anything that doesn’t fit their preconceived view of their world. This is a typical one: Mandidn’tcrawloutoftheoozeorevolvefrommonkeys!TheBiblesaysweweregivendominionoverthebeastsofthefields,touseinanywaywewant.Theanimalsdon’thavesouls,thereforetheydon’thaveanyfeelings,thereforetheydon’tfeelpain.Andwecan’tbreedwiththem,either.That’swhytheyarecalledanimals…. I wish I could be so sure of how many toes I have as some of these people are about their place in the universe.
Some correspondents wanted to know whether fled came to promote sex between the primate species, and if I agreed with this notion. Of course I don’t, and I don’t think she did, either. Her point was that our similarities far outweigh our differences, and appearances shouldn’t be the only criteria for acceptance among our peers.
No further word from fled. I even sent her an e-note once after she left, but of course there was no reply. Yet. But who knows—the message may be floating in cyberspace and a response may come any day. Will she ever visit us again? Probably not, but maybe fled’s half-Earthling son or daughter will make the journey. And if his father was human, what would the kid be like? Something like a hairless chimpanzee? Or perhaps a very hairy human, like the mechanic down at the local garage? Incidentally, the results of the naming contest came in last summer, and the winner was “edam,” a cross between “adam” and “eve” for a being of unknown gender, according to Smythe. Not very original, perhaps, but did you do any better?
Beyond that, will other K-PAXians show up some day? If so, will they be taking any of us back with them as prot and fled have done? And will Abby and Giselle and Gene be making a return trip to their home planet sometime soon, as fled suggested? I hope so; I’d love to ask them some questions. For example, did Phyllis become visible when she touched down on the purple plains of K-PAX, and has Rocky finally found beings who don’t rouse his ire? Does Cassandra still sit on a bench somewhere and contemplate the future, or did she find enough stimulation to keep her thoughts rooted in the present? Is Darryl in love with a Meg Ryan hologram? And did all those great apes mingle with the orfs and adjust well to their new environment? Are there ape-orf hybrids running around everywhere?
On the other hand will we, in another short decade and a half, receive a visit from the Bullocks, who seem to be some of the nastiest beings in the universe? Or was fled just trying to scare us into behaving ourselves, much like we might tell our children about the “bogeyman”? If so, then perhaps she was lying to us about everything else. But if she was telling the truth, do we have the will to correct some of our mistakes before it’s too late? Again, only time will tell. All we know for certain is that the universe is an unimaginably big place, filled with surprises. How little we know of it even in the twenty-first century. I hope we will soon learn to do away with our petty, stupid wars, no matter how seemingly righteous the cause; begin to conserve and protect our common environment, which is deteriorating with far greater rapidity than anyone would have thought even a few years ago; and reduce the human population and learn to share our still-beautiful planet with the other species who inhabit it with us.
Even if we manage to survive the century under the present conditions, what kind of world will we have if it becomes an oven supporting only a few species, including ourselves and our pets, all huddled in environmentally-controlled apartments on higher ground, while the coastlines become underwater playgrounds for scuba divers? Or if we continue to kill our neighbors, with ever more dangerous and sophisticated weapons, over who owns the last of the fossil fuels or professes the wrong religious beliefs? If so, whatever the Bullocks do to us couldn’t be much worse than what we’ve done to ourselves.
My generation may have been the last one on Earth to live without worrying about running out of space, of fuel, and of other natural resources including even air and water. But now our planet is having a tough time surviving us. Yet, even with the future in serious doubt, we’re still in thrall to the world’s leaders, who worry primarily about conserving their own wealth and power. How is it possible that we still support the hamburger chains, the tobacco industries, the gun manufacturers? Our very survival, I believe, depends on the answer to that and related questions.
Whatever happens, of course, won’t make much difference to us old farts; we’re not going to be around much longer anyway. What we’re talking about is our grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and the world they will have to deal with. Or does that matter enough to any of us, including them? Sometimes I wonder….
A DECLARATION ON GREAT APES*
We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
“The community of equals” is the moral community within which we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law. Among these principles or rights are the following:
1TheRighttoLife
The lives of members of the community of equals are to be protected. Members of the community of equals may not be killed except in very strictly defined circumstances, for example, self-defense.
2 TheProtectionofIndividualLiberty